Germany 5

Germany 5 - Munich, Oktoberfest & Frankfurt

More pictures of Munich & a few from Frankfurt.

One of the things that made Oktoberfest NOT like the fairs we go to here in Ohio is the prominence of BEER! They had huge displays of beer, as shown here, usually located above or adjacent to their huge beer tents.

There were quite a few marching bands that played and marched around the fairgrounds. It was a bit eerie to see a bunch of German men marching in lock-step (luckily it wasn't the goose step!), but their outfits weren't overly threatening, so all was good! We had one brief scare when Sarah got separated from us as a throng of people surged by us in the crowd, but we found here and moved on.

One of the museums we visited in Munich was the Residenz of the royal family, the Wittelsbachs (family to which Mad King Ludwig belonged). There are 2 sides to the Residenz - the "museum" and the "treasury." This is one of the opulent, jewel-encrusted boxes from the Wittelbach's collection in the Treasury.

After a couple of hours of massive crowds, we started to get a bit claustrophobic! However, we did promise the kids they could go on some rides. Interestingly, the German way of lining up for rides wasn't as orderly as the American way (one of the few things that wasn't!). Germans form a "funnel" into the event and people who are pushy can just jam their way to the front by coming in from the side! It was an unpleasant interaction, and thus we didn't do too many rides! You can see some of the bigger ones in the back here. Hey, did I mention that there were a LOT OF PEOPLE at Oktoberfest???

Well, after a while we had had just enough crowds to last us for a LONG time, so we decided to jam ourselves back on the subway and head back to the main city. We then got back to the Marienplatz to watch the Glockenspiel play. We got there early and thus got a good seat at an outdoor eatery right across from the Glockenspiel with a GREAT view. We had our Oktoberfest beer (finally!) and some nice pretzels. The kids had hot chocolate and nutella-filled crepes. Then the Glockenspiel played its ditty and we got to sit and watch it while the throng had to stand!

Claudia's Dad put us onto one of the less frequented spots in Munich, the highly ornate, Rococo church Asamkirche. Here is a shot of the ceiling and alter of the church. Pretty wild, eh?

The Town Hall (with the Glockenspiel) had an elevator that you could take up to a tower that overlooked the city. It was quite the view (see above)! You can see out over the city to where the Oktoberfest was being held (the Theresienwiese fairgrounds).

Here's another cool shot from the Town Hall tower. They really pack them in in Munich!

After our 2 days in Munich, we got back in the car, got on the autobahn and headed to Frankfurt. We only had one day in Frankfurt, which was OK because there wasn't as much to do there as in the other spots we visited. This was a nice square we found while walking around near our hotel.

This was a picturesque spot on the Main river. Note the swan in the background and then an interesting church off in the distance.

One of the interesting things we saw in the city was a ruin of an ancient Roman building! The kids had fun running around the Roman ruins!

Here are Sarah and Sophie being silly outside a toy store we stopped by. This was just before we returned to the hotel. The next morning, we were off early to return the car and get our flight back to the good ol' U.S.A.! We loved Germany, but were ready to get back to the U.S. to eat something other than pork, cabbage and potatoes!!!